Discrimination by olfactory cues in albino rats reflecting familiarity and relatedness among conspecifics

The present investigation sought to determine whether albino rat pups could discriminate among familiar siblings, nonfamiliar siblings, familiar nonsiblings (foster littermates), and nonfamiliar nonsiblings (unrelated agemates) using only olfactory cues. Pairing all possible combinations of familiarity and kinship variables (six), the odors were presented in paired combinations to each of twelve experimental subjects. Results from dependent t tests indicated that the albino rat pups could discriminate between the following pairs of odors using only the olfactory sensory modality: (a) familial siblings and nonfamiliar siblings, (t = 3.41, p = .006); (b) familiar siblings and nonfamiliar nonsiblings, (t = 9.62, p = .001); (c) nonfamiliar siblings and nonfamiliar nonsiblings, (t = 3.15, p = .009); and (d) familiar nonsiblings and nonfamiliar nonsiblings (t = 2.58, p = .026).